[77.13] High Redshift Galaxies and Confusion Noise for the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF)

Z. Haiman, D.N. Spergel, E.L. Turner (Princeton University)

Faint, high redshift galaxies constitute a background noise
for TPF, which can cause various problems, such as galaxies
mis-classified as planets, false detections due to confusion
noise, and requiring greater uv-plane coverage for each
individual interferometer. We discuss these issues, and
their impact on the observation strategy. We utilize
semi-analytical galaxy formation models to quantify the
number of high-redshift galaxies in a "worst case" scenario:
i.e. in a model in which the number of galaxies are
maximized in a way that is consistent with other current
observations.